Keys native Alvarez looks for boxing win No. 16

Even with a record of 15-0, boxer Armando Alvarez isn’t taking his next opponent lightly.

Jonathon Ramirez “has a lot of experience over [47] pro fights to my 15 pro fights,” said Alvarez, born at Fishermen’s Community Hospital in Marathon and raised in Key West. “He has fought top contenders. I never underestimate any fighter. I am in top shape; I feel very strong. I feel confident in my abilities but not overconfident. All it takes is one punch in this game.”

The two square off May 28 when Alvarez (15-0 with 10 knockouts) faces Argentina’s Ramirez (28-14, five draws) at Associacion Beniana Del Boxeo in Trinidad, Bolivia. It’s Alvarez’s defense of his World Boxing Council Latino welterweight title that he won in March after defeating Eddy Salvatierra in a five-round technical knockout. Alvarez is ranked No. 33 in the world among welterweights in the WBC and is fighting at 147 pounds.

His most recent bout was May 17, when he defeated Bolivian national champion Jakmani Hurtado in an eight-round TKO. Hurtado was 12-4-1 going into the fight.

Alvarez, who used to work in loss prevention for Kmart and goes by the name The Gentleman (he wears pink boxing shorts), now trains full-time. He lives in Homestead (he went to Marathon Middle School as a youth) but has been spending lots of time away from home and his wife Chelsea.

“I have been in Bolivia since the 5th of May in training camp,” said Alvarez, 27. “We do two sessions a day. Run, strength and conditioning, and then boxing in the afternoon.”

He plans to return to Homestead on May 30, two days after fighting Ramirez.